Parkway Drive - Darker Still (Epitaph) [GC]
So, without wanting to sounding like that guy, I really enjoyed Parkway Drives earlier albums and the last one I really connected with was 2012’s Atlas which was a masterpiece in modern metalcore but, since then it’s all just been a bit meh in my opinion. But it seems they just keep getting bigger and bigger, so maybe its time to re-connect and have another go. It doesn’t start well! The fairy tale style beginning of Ground Zero almost made me want to curl up and die before the ‘’whhhoooooa drop the beat’’ vocal call made me want to eat my own ears because what follows from that is just so cheesy it is unreal!
This is the sound of a band aiming for the headline slot a Download, which with the trajectory they are on is no doubt on the horizon but to change this much to achieve it is heart-breaking, I get that bands change and evolve but this is just awful! All the verses are almost rapped, and the guitars have an almost power metal feel to them which drags into next track Like Napalm which could be lifted directly from some best of 80’s rock compilation as its so bland and unoffensive and the main riff used is just crap and they us it a lot, unfortunately. Lead single and next disappointment is Glitch with more rap heavy verses blending with nu-metal style music which tries to build up towards and epic finish and falls flat on its face.
I am struggling badly with this and I’m only on track 4 and The Greatest Fear doesn’t do me any favours and just sounds like their attempt at a Black Album era Metallica song and the vocals and lyrics here are the absolute worst, this is embarrassing how a band can aim so high and miss! Darker Still is the inevitable lighters out track and really is painful to listen to, its boring, uninspiring and unfortunately also the longest track so far, with its wistful and sombre vocals it all just sounds so insincere and forced and the solo sound like something out of a fucking Poison song just when you think it cant get any worse the first minute of Imperial Heretic are probably the cheesiest thing on the whole album and at this point I am losing the will to live and think that this has got to be a joke?
I cannot comprehend who decided that recording and releasing If A God Can Bleed was a good idea as it might possibly be the worst thing I have ever heard in my life, the brooding nature that is supposed to create some deep, dark feeling and emotions but they never materialises and it’s just frankly embarrassing. Then out of nowhere Soul Bleach turns up to save the day and is the first half decent track on the album its fast and furious nu-metal tinged metalcore with a radio friendly edge and is an absolute delight compared to the first 7 tracks. This is then followed by the pointless 50 second Stranger which is just adding more time onto the bloated shit-show of an album which continues with Land Of The Lost which dives headfirst back into the cheesy arena rock we have been putting up with so far and the finally From The Heart Of Darkness finishes this whole affair on another massively shit note. Its all over. Thank fuck for that.
If you can’t already tell, I hate this album and cannot for the life of understand how it even got the green light to be released? Did anyone not listen to it and think, hang on this is shite?? I am feeling lots of different emotions really, sadness, shock, disappointment but mainly confusion on how a band can change so much and not for the better, the only reason this didn’t get a zero rating was because Soul Bleach was on it and saved it but, in all seriousness do not listen to this album its awful. 1/10
Allen/Olzon - Army Of Dreamers (Frontiers Music Srl) [Matt Bladen]
Once again the forces of Russell Allen, Anette Olzon and Magnus Karlsson combine again for the second Allen/Olzon album, the latest in the duo albums featuring Russell Allen. (Previously Allen/Lande). As I said in my review of the first album , there's a more melodic feel to the Allen/Olzon project due to Anette's presence there's a more symphonic edge of bands such as Delain, Serenity and of course Nightwish along with the heavier metal favoured by Allen in his day job on A Million Skies especially which has some massive backing choirs, strings and chunky prog riffing from Karlsson who writes all of the music for and produces these albums, knowing how to utilise both if these tremendous singers to the best of their ability.
After a slightly lackluster final Allen/Lande album the return of Karlsson and the addition of Olzon on the first album for this project gave it kick up the arse it needed so I'm glad they continued with both these voices as Olzons crystalline, almost pop perfection works well with Allen's gruff soulful power. Both voices mixing much better this time than on the debut. This cohesion is witnessed on Until It's Over, Anders Köllerfors' propulsive drumming adding to the heavy feel of the record. It's very much a metal album, with lots of melodic elements definitely on I Am Gone which takes a bit of 80's AOR beneath the bluster of symphonic metal Karlsson getting to show off his talent as writer and composer, the muscular ballad All Alone something he wouldn't be able to do in his other bands. Another strong entry into these Karlsson/Allen projects, as Olzon is indeed the X Factor this time round. 8/10
Irist - Gloria (Nuclear Blast Records) [GC]
Everybody please take a seat and pay full attention because the remarkable Irist are back and following on from their glorious 2020 debut Order Of The Mind, we have a new EP to take in and digest and trust me it’s worth it. I had to listen to first track Gloria 3 times to fully take in what is going on here as its A LOT, but this isn’t a complaint in anyway, far from it I LOVED it, after the feedback has died down we get hit with a wall of jagged and angular Djent/Mathcore guitar work that clashes head on with some frantic drum rhythms before the clean verse is chucked into the mix and we are only 1 minute 30 seconds in! After this its back into the more frantic and ferocious riffs we were treated to earlier with an epic break in-between all this that then descends into a beautiful almost mellow section that slows the madness down slightly before exploding back into life and seeing us out on a brooding and divine passage.
Heal begins with some haunting and flowing guitar work before breaking down into an immersive and precise mix of loud then louder dynamics which hit you with a mix of chaos and beauty and never misses a beat, it just swallows you whole and envelopes you before smashing you to bits with a huge end riff. III is just a brief interlude that gives you a chance to take a step back, re-group and appreciate what has preceded it before Surging Ablaze grabs hold of you again and fully re-immerses you into the chaotic beauty and mixes the loud/quiet dynamic to truly remarkable effect as the interchange between the beauty and aggression is remarkable and breathtaking and the end section of this song wouldn’t be out of place on an Isis record and that is not a comparison to make lightly, absolutely magical and stunning songwriting then before we know it and to my complete horror the end is upon us.
Watchful Eye is an absolute juggernaut that bounds into your mind with a hulking riff before dropping into a tension building section that then re-introduces the previous riff and flips in between the tension and savagery in a beautiful way before dropping into a final blast that throws everything it possibly can at you and then after 4 glorious tracks of beautiful and devastating music, it is all over. Following on from their debut album was not going to be easy but, this has followed on and upped it a level and is an absolutely stunning EP that my only complaint about is that there isn’t more for me to take onboard because 4 tracks of this beautiful, savage and crushing perfection are just not enough. Irist should be over the moon with what they have produced here because it is truly special & remarkable and really does deserve to be listened to by everyone and if there is any justice in the world it should elevate them forward massively and make them a big name in the metal world. Stunning. 10/10
Ultima Grace - Ultima Grace (Frontiers Music Srl) [Matt Bladen]
Yet more Anette Olzon who lends her vocal talents to Ultima Grace the neo-classical metal project from Galneyus keyboardist Yuhki. Having already been released in Japan Frontiers picked up for European release, and if you've ever heard any Japanese metal bands you'll pretty much know that Ultima Grace pretty much follows every single blueprint you could have for it. Neo-Classical shred guitar is joined by synths and keys for songs that shift between some Boston-like AOR on Cry For The Rain, to fantastical soundtracks such as Powers Of The North And East, jazz rhythms on Beguile The Night and Ripples which is a showpiece for drummer Hideki and bassist Atsushi Hasegawa.
There are multiple genres at play here, the constants being the keys/synths/orchestration of Yuhki, the virtuoso playing of the backroom, the shred mastery of Toshihiro Kajihara and Anette Olzon's brilliant voice. There are one or two problems unfortunately, the production is really thin and oddly mixed so many of the songs don't have that punch you want from a rock/metal albums, it's also over an hour long and because of the varying genre styles you have to give a lot of attention, even on the bits that feel like filler. Progressive? Yes, Talented? Yes, Well performed? Yes but there's something I'm missing with this release as it don't click with me. 6/10
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